Life as a imperial guardsmen
by grimworld
Summary: NEW UPDATED 8th novemeber 2007, The story follows our young hero from his life before the gaurdsmen until his death, chapters 1,2,3 and 4 are in this document now working on the fifth


Chapter 1: Before recruitment

I was born on the plant Valhalla the ice world as it is known to others, the planet is covered in snow and ice after a meteor strike along time ago. Our planet as a limited supply of food algae with out this source of food we would all surely perish.

We are not the only inhabitants on this world there are a few surviving orc bases from a crashed war fleet. Ive heard the stories from my farther he told me that not long after the comet collide with our planet; a damaged orc war fleet crash landed and soon started a war to claim the algae sources for themselves. However the grim determination of our men folk was too much and eventually with tactics they were able to kill most of the orc forces however some managed to escape.

That is why when I turn 16 I plan to join the imperial guard Valhalla forces to help defend my planet from the orc scum. It's been my dream since my farther told me the stories from his war days. He was a member of the imperial guard until his leman russ tank was attacked by a orc force he lost both his legs. Unlike him I do not plan to join the tank squads but the frontline I want to be able to see the orc's face to face before I blow them away.

My name is Callius Mordime and in one years time I will be 16 and old enough to fulfil my dream. This is my personal diary, a record I plan to one day share with my own family so they can see all about my life. I have one year to get myself into better shape. I have spent my years growing up working in the algae farms with my uncle Im in decent shape but not for the guardsmen. I must go now my mother needs help with the daily washing.

Entry 2…..

Sorry it's been a month since my last update there are some stories I would like to share. Ive been working near an imperial guard base for the last month as ive been moved to a new algae farm our last one ran out for the time been, luckily it will grow back within the year. Ive been watching the training exercises of the guardsmen, taking notes when I have free time I work out, ive based my exercises on there's training myself for war, when the time comes I will know what to do.

Ive met a guy too called Develot he never shared his last name like me he is 15 and hopes to join the guardsmen; however what I make up for in brains he does make up for in brawn. Last week one of the workers said something about Develot and his family, this didn't go down well. Develot casually walked over to the guy tapped him on the shoulder. The guy turned around and before he could speak Develot had punched him so hard the guys face exploded in blood. Before the guy even hit the floor Develot kicked the guy n mid air, ive never seen some one fly like that. The guy hit a wall and bounced back unconscious. Develot told the guys not to say anything about his family, I never asked him about them.

Entry 3…….

It's been a busy 3 months I haven't had chance to make an entry, for the last 3 months there as not been any power. An orc army some how managed to take out one of our power sources. From what I have heard there was 300 orc's all armed with bolters and blades. They took the power plant in the early ours killing everyone, ive not seen any of the footage but my farther as he told him the workers didn't have a chance.

The imperial guard was ordered to send in a regiment to cleanse the area and regain the power plant before more orc's could establish a strong hold. The regiment was none other then the 286 regiment, every Mordime ever joined the imperial guard as thought under this regiment. This meant my cousin Virelle was sent in to battle, how I envy him!

I don't know what really happened but ive heard all the stories, from what I know are the 286 entered the night after the power plant was taken. The regiment consists of around 800 guardsmen two tank crews and of course the legendary storm troopers. The storm troopers were the first to go in; they took the building back room by room. The guardsmen followed the storm troopers mopping up any orc's that they left alive, only 5 storm troopers died and 15 guardsmen all the orc's were of course killed.

Entry 4……..

It's the 7th month in 4 months I will be 16 and ready to join; my farther tells me how proud I will make him when I join. The best news is that ive been working out and my physique is improved I can run further and faster. I can carry heavy loads even Develot as noticed how much I have changed, although at the moment Develot is locked away for the next two months. He was caught in a street fight trying to earn some money, he was found with his thumbs in the eye sockets of a local known fighter, the fighter was blinded by Develot.

My cousin Virelle is dead, he was killed during a skirmish with an orc mob, and the official report tells us that his squad was ambushed. They were on a patrol mission, making sure the area was safe when a orc mob came storming on a bunch of war tracks. The orc's saw the patrol and out numbered those 5 to 1, the squad called in to base for support, the report states that the two leman russ tanks and 200 troops were deployed to give them support however the team didn't reach them in time. The orc's with the vast numbers had easily pinned down the squad, the squad however did claim the lives of 65 orc's but sadly all 50 men were lost.

Virelle was buried last month well what was left of him, his brother Halle as now joined although he is 18 he never wanted to fight in the war but the death of his brother pushed him to join. My uncle tells me that Halle is doing well and should finish his training in the next couple of months.

Entry 5……

In one month I will be joining the guardsmen, ive been gunning training with Develot, don't ask me how but he got his hands on a lasgun the standard issue weapon of he guardsmen. We have been sneaking out of the hive colony up on to the surface setting up targets at various yards and practicing. My aim as improved and I got my first orc kill, it was more terrifying then I could have imagined.

I was setting up the 500 yard target when Develot told me he had to take a slash, there is no way you can do that on the surface. He told me to wait for him he will be back soon; I walked 500 yards and placed down the can. I heard the snow crunch behind me not to far away, I turned around telling Develot the joke was on him, then I froze not more then 200 yards was an orc, from what I know about them he was in bad shape with multiple wounds. He was alone too that's unusual for an orc, then one thing stood out to me he was holding a las pistol which is a standard gun for an imperial guard sergeant. The colours were that of a 286 regiment he was an orc from either the power plant raid or the ambush, in his other hand he was carrying a chainsaw. I was still froozen to the spot when he charged at my taking pot shots with the pistol, I raised the lasgun and took aim, holding my breathe before the shot and slowly pulling the trigger, a blot of blue came out of the nozzle. I saw the charge fly through the air hitting the orc in the shoulder, a spray of green blood came from the new wound. The orc didn't slow his charge and was 100 yards and closing fast. I took aim again carefully pulling the trigger, this time the charge came out and caught the orc on the side of its head. It cut deep taking a chunk of his skull with the wound. However the orc did not fall he was still running and less then 50 yards away, I took one last shoot without aim the shot hit the orc in the knee taking the bottom of his leg away, he stumbled over falling into the deep snow. I saw around him the snow start to turn green from his blood, I took aim again this time firing two shots into the rest of his head taking it clean off.

A few minutes later Develot returned to see my trophy one brand new las pistol and a chainsaw, we couldn't tell anyone about my encounter as we would have been brutally punished for been on the surface.

Entry 6……

Im 16 and today I join the rank of the imperial guard.

Chapter 2: Training

Entry 7……

It's been 6 months since my last entry I haven't had the time to write anything down, I have 3 hours before Im shipped out to regiment 286. The last 6 months have been hell; I have never had to work so hard in my life I wasn't sure I was prepared for this.

The first month was basically drills, we were pushed to our physical limits, and every day would start with a full gear 8 mile run through the ice lands. They were bad enough luckily each run had an elite space marine scout squad sent ahead to clear the run of any orc's.

After the run we would return to base in a chimera, and then we would begin the assault course first with out full gear then with full gear. This would lead to breakfast which was actual food not algae but real food I was amazed ive never had anything other then algae.

Now we had weapons training until lunch this is where we was trained with the basic lasgun and las pistol. There was also grenade training and explosives as we might once in a while need to destroy an armoured target. This would then lead to dinner which once again was real food, although you didn't get a lot you got what your body needed to work off.

After dinner we had squad tactics this was my favourite training, we were separated into squads and then given a sergeant who would give us orders for capture the flag, We were given some modified lasguns that shot out highlights that disabled the other opponent in a safe manner.

Then supper which was the last meal of the day before we set off for 4 hours of night time training. Sometimes we were allowed night vision equipment and sometimes we had to learn how to use our eyesight in the poor light.

That was the first month the second and third month was advance weapons training, we were given a gun test with a number of different weapons. There was the lasgun, plasma gun, lascannon, plasma cannon, bolter, heavy bolter, flamer thrower, melta gun and of course the auto cannon. Each day we would be given one weapon and taught the best way to use that gun for maximum damage to the enemy.

The second month of this training involved you using one gun for that month, we didn't get to pick, based on our first month with each gun we was told what weapon we would be using. I was given the standard lasgun Im not surprised at all, I had an accident with the plasma cannon, I was fined two months wages for the damage to one shuttle after I missed fire.

Also this month saw Develot join the imperial guard after he turned 16, he as been on the first month however unlike me he doesn't seem to struggle with the fitness aspects. Ive heard the sergeants sing praise about his physique and ability to go that extra mile where most people struggle.

The next three months saw me moved to a further location on the planet, how ever we didn't see the journey. We were all drugged as the location as to be kept a secret due to the weapons that were stored there. If the orc's found this place and over ran the facility my people would suffer.

Here we spent three months on live training exercises, I was in a 10 man squad there was sergeant Herris, communication officer Jarvis, then 7 guardsmen including me Klak, Ferrie, Duncs, Jones, Sadi and Worick. The last member was a special weapon guardsman called Gerrit he was given a heavy bolter.

These were my people for the next three months what ever we did we did together, our first exercise was a live fire fight against a captured orc platoon. The orc's were given marker guns so we wouldn't be hurt however we would know if we would have been killed.

We was taken to a location north of the training ground, about half a mile in front was a satellite position we was told that the orc's were controlling the place and our mission was to clear the grounds and secure the position. Sergeant Herris ordered us to follow his lead; he took us from rock to rock using the terrain for cover. Half way there we was told to take cover as hostiles had been spotted, Sadi told us that he could clearly see 5 orc's holding ground in a dugout. Herris ordered me, Duncs and Klak to take up a firing position; I noticed a spot to our right that would give us cover and a good line of sight so we moved into position. I wondered why only three of us were given the order to kill 5 surely 5 against 5 would have made more sense, however I was a solider and orders were orders. I lined up the first shot and moved for the second I was confident in a space of three seconds I could take down two orc's the others agreed to let me while Klak and Duncs would take out the other three. I told them on the count of three to begin fire 1, 2, 3 I shot the first orc dead between his eyes the orc to his right turned to look at him, damn he moved out of my second shot I quickly swung my gun to the left and pulled the trigger twice. The first shot hit the orc in the shoulder the second shot was better and took his head nearly off. Duncs picked off the orc on the far right leaving two left, Klak took one out leaving the third orc who began randomly firing in our direction, basically pinning us down. I slowly raised my head for a better view I had one chance to take him out. I lined the shot and fired three times, I wanted to make sure he went down and down he went.

We joined the squad, sergeant Herris was impressed and ordered Jarvis to phone in for information on the orc's he wanted to know how many there were, so he asked for satellite to pass over for information. The request was granted few minutes later we were radioed that there was around 30 orc's left. Once again we set of forward; we were approaching the position now. I noticed that the orc's had set up in the windows I shouted for everyone to get down and head for cover. As I shouted this out the firing opened. I was glad these were not real ammunition coming for us or most of us would have been killed. Herris told Gerrit to lay down some cover fire, he turned around and let rip with the heavy bolter. All I can say is wow, when the bullets hit the building chunks were taken out, he moved the gun around firing a line directly at the windows tearing the building up and shattering what ever glass was left.

One by one we would pop up and take a shot at the orc's in the window hoping to take one out. Herris ordered us to push forward he gave me, Duncs, Klak, Sadi and Worick the order to move for the base while we were supported with over fire. This was a sucide mission if I had ever seen one. We stood up and began to run forward towards the main entrance, live ammunition was flying over our head; we closed in on the door and booted it open. We stormed the first room over running two orc's in there. We quickly began to move to the second room knowing any minute the orc's would realise where we had moved too. Room by room we began taking the building back. Before each room I could feel how scared I was, I knew there might be enemies hiding in there ready to take me out. One room we burst into an orc was hiding behind the side wall when Worick enetered the orc smacked him aside and picked up his lasgun. I remember thinking shit this orc now has a live ammo gun; luckily the imperial guard had installed chips into the guns and the orc's he exploded infront of us. Worick was dazed and confused I ordered Duncs to stay with Worick until he was feeling better and we would carry on.

We got to the last room which was the upper floor inside we knew from our intel there was at least 5 orc's still alive in there. We could still hear the heavy bolter rounds pinning down the last orc's we burst into the room, I rapid fired into a orc turning him to a pile of green chunks, Sadi took out an orc to my right while Klak encountered two orc's he shot both before they knew what had happened. The last orc stood up from behind a wall rising his gun at me, I slowly thought about how this was going to look bad on my record when a heavy bolter round slammed into his back, it lifted him off the ground and threw him into the fire wall. Sadi was shouting about how we had done achived the mission, he sent a message over his comms that the building was ours; he walked over to the window to signal the sergeant to come over. As he reached the window I was showered in blood, I turned around and remember shouting something to Klak he quickly ran over to Sadi he was laid on the floor blood gushing from a head wound. We got on our comms and told sergeant Herris to order for a medic and fast. We covered the wound the best we could and used the little field medical training we had been given to clean the wound and hopefully stop the bleeding.

That's when the mission was over, we was all picked up with the body of our fallen comrade Sadi. He bled to death before the medics arrived they told us we had done a good job on the wound however with out the equipment they carry there was no way we could have saved him. Herris was asked for a report on how this incident happened; he told the captain that no message was sent back to him that the area was cleared. Klak was having none of it he told the captain that he had heard Sadi send a message back I backed him up. Ferrie was still crying it was his shot that had killed Sadi he couldn't believe he never noticed the uniform that's all he could say.

Later on we found out that Sadi's comm had been damaged and no message was sent to the sergeant. All because of one fault Sadi was now dead; Ferrie left the guardsmen as he couldn't take the guilt. Herris is still our sergeant after the incident and with the other missions we achieved his knowledge on commanding as increased as a squad we are more like brothers. We received a new recruit called Hemming to replace Sadi and one called Gal to replace Ferrie. I would tell you of the other missions how ever Im now reaching the 286 head quarters.

Chapter 3: First mission

Our training was complete and we were official trained soldiers of the imperium, we were now members of the regiment 286, cold trained killers and most of all we were full of excitement about completing the training and were ready for our first real mission.

The base was like nothing I had ever imagined, at first I was more then shocked at the number of troops the regiment contained, 15,000 strong. That was an impressive number for such a small world, I had no idea there could be that many people living on this planet, then again I was only from a small part of the world's catacomb system. We had our own tank regiment containing enough chimeras to carry the 15,000 troops not to mention a hellhound battalion known only as the snow drifts, the name suited them well. The one object in this base that really grabbed my attention was then thunderhawk drop gunship it was an impressive sight to behold, capable of carrying the hellhounds plus 12 chimeras and a number of squads it was larger then anything I had ever seen.

I was speaking to a troop who had been with the company for the last year and he was telling me that the 286 had recently been boosted up with more troops from different planets that's why there were so many now, but sadly our storm troopers had been taking away to fight where they were more needed, the head commissar for our regiment commissar Goole was not pleased about this he claimed even with all the extra troops and fire power they did not equal that off the storm troopers, no one could blame him the storm troopers were living legends in their own rights.

Since arriving to the company I had not seen any of my fellow training buddies and this worried me slightly, I now had to meet new people and I was never ever good at this sort of thing. I was in barracks 15 with 9 other men and behind us was the HQ building for our squad where we had a young commissar in training and his 5 elite troops, this was the standard for all the other men too, it was so the imperial guardsmen were churning out more and more commissars as the life of one was more then short.

The next day was routine as all the others on we were awoken at 05.00 hours and told to gear up ready for exercises, this was the standard 3 length runs followed by assault course. Then we would make our way to the target range where each member of the squad would practice there aiming. With all that done it would be close to breakfast where we would be fed algae, after breakfast we would have an hour to do what we pleased, this would take us up to 9.00 then we would do another run followed by more training then dinner at 13.00, this would then see us practice assault manoeuvres until supper at 18.00 then the rest of the evening we would be allowed to do as we pleased, although there were regulations about leaving the barracks. Only twice a week was certain groups allowed to leave the barracks that meant that every night there would be no less then 10,000 troops operational and ready for combat.

A few weeks passed with the same old routine, the army barracks was so big I still hadn't managed to find my old friend Delevot last I heard he was in my regiment but I couldn't seem to locate the crafty bastard. I hope he was alright, then I thought who am I kidding he would be more then fine.  
On my sixth week with the regiment during the second lot of training a call came through from a local out post, there was a movement of orks heading towards a small algae farm. The mission was simple eliminate all ork forces that were heading to the farm. Our company was selected with two others, our commissar was a young fellow called Clark, we referred to him as commissar, the other nine men were all code named as it made command easier for the commissar it was a simple code from number one to number 10 I was number 7. The commissar and his elite squad moved to meet with the other command squads to discuss tactics; we were giving the use of the drop ship to move us into the algae farm.

Several minutes later we were all aboard the dropship and moving fast to the algae farm we were quickly informed of a code name change, it was simple as we were now known as blue numbers, this was different for each team, this made command for each commissar and troops simple with out any confusion, last thing you need is confusion when you have live ammunition.

When we arrived team red moved out to secure a hill to the left of the algae farm while team green moved into the algae fields, we took the actual building and began placing objects to make a defensive perimeter around the building in case the other teams were pushed back plus we had a good cover and firing spot.

The out post had let us know they had seen 5 squads of orks they all looked like they were shooter boyz; this was what they were called in their ork civilization. Team red came over the intercom to let us know they could see the orks moving in from the east, this meant that they were walking straight into firing range of all teams, this was good news. What worried me was my gut it felt like something wasn't right here, I mean the orks are not known for their intelligence but I felt like this was a trap. They had walked past one of our out posts in range for them to see they would surely know we would send out troops to defend our farm.

Soon as the orks were in view they did what all orks do, they lifted their weapons and started firing randomly at us, and then with a ferocious battle cry they all charged. Quickly scanning the region I counted no more then 100 orks which meant we had 45 men to take them on with, red team were closest to the orks so they opened fire first, green team gave flanking fire to try and weaken the orks down. Commissar Clark then ordered for us to open fire, with his one command a hail of las fire shot across the open ground hitting green skin, the orks are some tough foes, our las fire on impact took chunks of green flesh away spraying dark green blood into the air, did they flinch? No they kept on charging. We knew the only way to take down an ork was to hit it so many times that it lost to much blood and collapsed another method was to blow hits head clean off.

Red team were in trouble the orks with their superior numbers were closing in fast, our commissar told the green team to give as much fire support as the could and then he ordered the red team to fall back, the commissar was young and naïve and told his men to stand their ground and not give an inch, his elite fighters though they were harden veterans could not hold off the attack forever, the ten men stood in front of them were easily cut into pieces by the orks. Many of them were shot several times by the orks it was not a pleasant sight, the ork bullets were crude, hitting the body and fragmenting. It was like been shot by a shrapnel gun, they cut your insides to ribbons leaving you often alive and in agony.

Watching the red teams normal troops die was a shock and morale started to drop, however their commissar was still alive along with his 5 veterans, we all knew they would fall but not with out a fight. It was a sight to behold one ork jumped over the fallen troops, he swung his sword around aiming for the commissar, however the commissar raised his chainsaw and knocked the blow aside with the ork turning from the force he raised his bolter pistol and blew side of the orks face straight off that was one down.

Green team sensed that this was no good and started falling back to our covered position. We were still firing at the orks hoping to take as many down as we could before they started heading for us, the elites were doing a good job holding the orks back but one by one they began to fall, one of them jumping in front of the commissar to take what would have been a fatal shot. Soon the commissar was stood alone with no less then 75 orks around him, we heard his scream but saw nothing as the green tide surround him.

Commissar Clark knew this was a bad situation to be in, he ordered the green team to take shelter on the second floor in the building to give us some much needed high ground fire cover. With that he told us all to ready our grenades and when the green skins were in range to let loose. We were still firing as the orks began to charge towards us, soon as the orks were close enough we released hell its self, we threw a volley of grenades, we ducked as they exploded, releasing fire and metal. You heard the orks cry out in pain as the metal shredded their bodies. With that we all popped up into firing positions and began to thin out their numbers, they were close now so close you could see the red in their eyes.

Commissar Clark was walking up and down the line telling us to believe in the emperor and we will leave through this day. His words had power they gave you strength to stare into the face of death and not doubt you will live through the day. The ork numbers were droppings as they charged into our defensive wall, this was simple tactics the orks only had swords as we had bayonets attached to our lasguns, we simply stabbed and shot pulled out repeated if necessary, at this close the las fire would basically burn an hole in the victim, this made an impressive sized hole as big as a fist, where all the tissue and flesh would weld together. This usually made even a ork drop down. Their swords were to short to d any damage over the wall however their guns were not, it was scary having guns been fired that close to you, blue number 3 was suddenly grabbed by an ork, commissar Clark saw and raised his own bolter pistol with out even a pause he aimed pulled the trigger and the orks arm was torn off from the elbow, the ork turned around and our commissar finished the job with around to the throat nearly taking the head off, instead it tore it from the neck and made it fold over.

The orks were down to the last ten and out team hadn't taken any casualties, however we had good fire support from green team on the second floor. I remember thinking this was a good day for us, one ork turned to run as I shot him several times in the back leaving nothing more then a pile of green flesh, commissar Clark picked off another two and the rest were easy targets and were picked off my a number of the squad.

Commissar Clark told us to enjoy our victory and then radioed back to base for air lift out of here. We were rounding up the dead orks and what was left of red team when we heard the noise. Blue number 9 asked if it was the gun ship and maybe it had been damaged on the way here, however the noise sounded like stomping. Commissar ordered for a recon to go check out what was going on, before he even had chance to set off we saw it.

Coming over the hill with a slow pace was a killer can, this wasn't the official name for them but more of a general slang used by out troops. Killer cans were more then tough to bring down, built by ork engineers these were crude vehicles but with fire power to bring down entire squads. Commissar Clark ordered us all into the building and to take firing positions even though we all knew our weapons here would be useless.

The killer can soon as it moved in to range realised fire, with its mounted heavy weapon we soon started to see chunks off the wall crumble as the power of the bullets hit the wall. It wouldn't be long before the bullets started making holes then we would be in major trouble. We smashed the windows and using turn and shoot methods we began to lay down fire, however our rounds just bounced off the thick armour, this was not looking good. Before long there were formidable sized holes appearing in the wall and some rounds were making it into the building now.

Blue number 2 was finding anything he could to start building a defensive wall in the room, this would have been the place where we could make the last stand. We all heard a loud scream from behind I turned and saw him laying on the ground, one of the rounds had caught him on the shin, the force had been slowed down from the wall however it still had the power to snap his shin in several places, blue number 0 ran over with a medic kit and began basic treatment on him.

The killer can was close now, it raised its second hand the one that contained a large saw and began to grind its way through the wall, even at this range our rounds were doing nothing, this was it we all knew it we would surely die, we moved back behind the wall blue number 2 had built and dragged him with us, after a minute or so the wall fell towards us and through the dust you could see the killer can standing there.

It moved it first foot in, all of a sudden with a blinding flash of light the killer can exploded we all jumped down for cover as it began to rain metal. We slowly peered up not knowing what to expect, there was nothing left of the machine, there was now a larger hole in the wall too, then over the intercom we heard a voice it was the gun ship it had saw the killer can on our position and had let it see real fire power with an hell fire missile!

We ran to the ship and got a medic tube and carried blue number two init to the ship, we flew back to head quarters for operations overview, when we arrived a medic team was waiting they took number 2 to the medic bay, we were all taken to a room where we were told the mission was a success and we should be proud, after that we were sent to our barracks.

My first mission was tense and I still can feel my heart pumping from it now, ive just been told that tomorrow we are been shipped out for a little side mission something to do with the local police needing help. I will write again soon but for now I must get some rest, hopefully I will have peaceful dreams.

Chapter 4: helping hands

After our last mission and commissar Clark's amazing ability to command he were sent to the local police station in district minor 7, there were close to 1000 in habitants in this area yet there police force had taken a massive blow when a rebel group had launched a devastating attack on there base.

Our mission was to help the police with their duties and basically give the area some much needed cover support; we were told this would be a four month mission as there were several new recruits flying in from a nearby planet.

Commissar Clark however was not in charge off the overall mission that was still the police commander, Captain Gabe from his files he was fairly decent commander and would have done well in the imperial guardsmen. On arrival he showed us to the building which would be housing us for the coming months it was nothing great but would do.

The first day we basically walked around getting used to the area, we were still allowed to wear our guardsmen uniforms and carry our las rifles, which were good news for us. We talked with Captain Gabe about the attack to see what we could learn; we found out that over the last year a small time gang had started and raised pretty damn fast, before they knew it they had a gang with 100 members with good connections. I never knew stuff like this was happening on our planet, apparently there main leader was from another planet sent to ours to set up another diversion of there gang. They had taken out all their major competitors in a space of half a year, then they started dealing in narcotics to the junkies, a lucky break for the police force managed to catch a shipment of the drugs before they hit the street, then one week after the big break the gang and launched its attack on the base killing most of the police force. This is why they needed some help so they can rebuild their numbers and defend the innocent.

With the first day over we retreated to our building where Commissar Clark talked to us about tomorrow he and his 5 elites were going to stay in the police station while our squad would walk the streets to ease peoples concerns about lack of protection. It was going to be along and dull couple of months.

Next morning we all awoke and began getting ready for the day, we would spend a the first hour doing exercises as these were important to keep up our fitness level, one thing a solider never wanted was a poor fitness level as that could be the difference between life or death. After that we made our way onto the streets, it was odd been began in a civilian area, walking around in formation. We all had been given new radios that would allow Captain Gade to talk to us in case of an emergency.

The first month went by with out any real incidents sometimes we were called to robberies or fights in the streets but nothing major, it was getting routine and very dull. It had got to the point where we were wishing for something big to happen to take our minds of this routine and get us into some action, its odd how as a solider you almost pray for action like its something you need to live.  
In the second month we got our first taste of urban fighting and all though this was what I had wished for I would have prayed for it to go back to the routine. It all began in the early hours, Captain Gade had told us one of his informants and given him some information about a warehouse, and they believed this was one of the areas where the gang was storing some of their deadly arsenal.

We geared up and moved out with commissar Clark, he had decided that all though he was sure we could handle this mission it would be best for him to be there along side his troops, it did feel good to have your leader following you into battle made you more calm and even more sure you were going to walk away from this one alive.

We headed for the warehouse it was down a region in this hive district, it was carved into the side of a ice wall, it looked pretty empty from here, when we got closer we saw it was a terrible place to have to get too, the only way to it was down a long narrow street with buildings lining either side, the warehouse was directly at the bottom facing up the street, this wasn't good for any tactical situation. We looked over at commissar Clark you could see he didn't like the situation one bit, this was what we called a bottle neck once you was in it was easy for the enemy to move into positions that would stop you escaping and allow 360 degree fire at you, that is how entire armies had been defeated.

The bad news kept on coming we weren't even sure if the building was empty or not, this meant we could be walking towards a building full of guns with men willing to use them. After looking at the situation commissar Clark ordered us to move forward slow and steady securing the buildings as we did so. We began to move out in pairs it was a good tactical situation for this, one man either side followed by two more men protecting their rear, at least if we got jumped by them we would be in some sort of position to fire back.

I was paired with a guy called Butch his real name was Selaus Veron but he was built like a house so we called him Butch which he seemed to love. Behind us was Julios Vega and Marius Heres, Vega was known by his second name where as Heres preferred to be called Marius. We began our movement down after the first lot, however due to the fact there is only ten of us two members had to go down with out no rear protection, I think commissar Clark knew that was an error on his part these two should have gone down first not last. Commissar Clark wasn't following us down he and his elites had stayed up top for cover fire just in case something went wrong.

The first team were heading for the second two buildings on the street while we headed for the first set; the plan was that two members would storm into each building allowing us to clear 4 buildings at once while the last two now would stay on the streets ready for action. When we were all in position at the doors commissar Clark gave the order to storm in, one man from each mini team moved in front of the door ready to boot it open, while the second man stood close to the door at the side ready to storm inside, this was an old trick that was used in urban warfare, a lot of planets the imperial guard fought on were urban landscapes.

Team one was the first to kick their door down and as soon as they did that all hell broke loose, we heard gun shots from a unknown direction, my team mate Butch was about to kick the door down when I jumped across and grabbed him, as soon as we hit the ground bullets ripped the door apart. I glanced across team 1 had a man down it looked like Brent he wasn't dead thank god but had been hit several times, his team mate Sanders was dragging him to safety, No one else had been hit but the street was under serious fire from these houses, we couldn't really move as we were pinned down, then the warehouse opened its main door and a heavy bolter was been wheeled into place, oh shit this was not good, the heavy bolter had explosive rounds an hit from these didn't just make an hole in you it blew you apart.

I felt my heart really begin to beat, we needed cover and fast, we saw commissar Clark move around the street corner with his elites, we thought he was leaving us here to die until he came over the comm. He told us to regroup and storm a building it was our only chance, we ran for the nearest building, the bullets were still coming through the open door, they wasn't even pausing they knew we were out there and needed us pinned in the open, the heavy bolter was nearly set up, with out a word I tossed in two grenades. A voice from inside yelled something incoherent as we heard the explosions we burst in through the door as the firing had stopped, one grenade had blown apart the bolter gun, the two men behind it didn't look in a good state one had a some of the bolter sticking from his chest and the other was in more bits all over the walls, floor and roof. Without a word we moved to better covered positions then we heard movement from the right, damn there was some stairs why didn't we secure them.

The door as the stairs burst open, we laid low trying to make it look like we wasn't even in the building, two guys came out calling upstairs that it looked clear, that meant there were more up there. We popped up and opened fire on the two, as fire makes a good clean kill, one shot made a good size hole in your victim. They both dropped to the floor, we moved silently up the stairs, we peeked around the corner and could see three people one was oddly enough a woman, Vega was the first to storm in, he aimed his sights at the closet and made a huge hole in the guys face, the hole sprayed blood in the second mans eyes, Butch finished him off with two rounds to the chest, I burst in and with a seconds delay I shot one round in to the woman's face ending her life.

That was one building clear we knew there were 3 more with hostiles and then two more before the warehouse, we moved downstairs and looked across at the next building, some how we had to dash across into there knowing that we would be running out into a line of fire not to mention the other building had a gun team at the door. We told Commissar Clark that one building was clear, he ordered us to move onto the next one, this wasn't going to be easy. Vega was moving a table from a wall so we could use it as cover in the door way, when he grabbed the table he couldn't seem to shift it, he asked Butch for help with both of them tugging the table came loose and so did the wall.

It was amazing they had built a network of tunnels to allow them to move without been seen on the streets, we left three men plus the wounded in the room as the rest of us moved into the tunnel. We figured out that if we down the passage we would be at the next building.

On following it down we came to what looked like a door with one simple button, we pressed the button, the door swung open into a room, with a look of surprise to gang members turned around to see us pointing our las rifles right at their heads, they still went for their guns but we made sure they never had a chance. We learnt from our last time that there was a chance more people would be up stairs. Butch came up with a clever idea on how to weaken them down first, with his massive arms he grabbed the bolter gun and aimed it upwards at the roof and then opened fire, the bullets shot through the roof into the room above, he moved the gun back and forth spraying the room with bullets, we moved up the stairs and ordered him to cease fire, we charged in however all we saw were bodies on the floor.

That left us with 4 more houses to clear, we did the same on the next three with the same success, The last one to clear seemed simple enough, we opened the door this time we were greeted by men with guns we quickly tried to dive for cover, most of us got out of the way as the bullets left their guns, Marius wasn't so lucky he took a round to the hip and one to the shoulder, that left 5 of us fully capable, we tossed in some grenades to be delighted with the sound of bodies been ripped apart, we moved into the room and quickly move into the upper rooms, Butch has one pissed off look about him, he moved in first there were several men behind a upturned desk, Butch tossed a grenade in over the desk and ducked for cover as it exploded killing all those behind it.

We got on the radio to commissar Clark and let him knew what was going on, he asked us to move the two wounded into the same room, and leave one guard the rest of us were to move to the factory though the tunnels, he did warn us that they must now know we were using the tunnels to move around. That made sense, we began to move towards what we hoped would be the warehouse we got to the bottom and found one door, this could be bad for us they could have moved the heavy bolter to cover this door. Vega quickly ran to the first building and looked out of the door, he noticed the heavy bolter wasn't in view and had been moved some where. He told us the news, that thing could be pointing at us now; one thing you never wanted aimed at you was one of these.

We needed to get in there fast, that was when we came up with one hell of a plan, it was a risk but worth it, Butch moved up through the corridor and brought back with him some of the dead gang members, not been a kind man to the dead he found anything sharp and stabbed them to the walls, he put one in front of the door with one on the floor. Vega told us he would press the button drop down and place the dead gang member on top of him hiding him from view, while the rest of us would then charge from the building into the warehouse, we move into position and gave Vega the order.

He pressed the button and the door opened slowly, then with a deafen sound the heavy bolter let loose Vega was on the floor pulling the body over him as he saw the first round hit the door and blow it apart, fragments of door hit the corridor with force, some piece hit the roof came down with speed and pinned his leg to the floor, he felt the blood begin to spill from the wound, the heavy bolter moved it slowly firing into the wall blowing it apart.

At the same time as this I was running down the street with my comrades, as we got closer we lifted our weapons and on entering the building we began to open fire. The heavy bolter crew looked shocked to see us enter from the open street; it didn't last long as there faces were easily taken away with the rounds that hit them. We moved quickly in the warehouse securing it, looked like these were the only two in there keeping an eye out for the rest of the street.

When we arrived back at the police station after cleaning up all the weapons and cleaning the dead, we felt good after the mission, two of our team mates were wounded but luckily enough both would survive, the gang had been dealt a terrible blow, the warehouse looked like it was one of their main storage places for weapons, we knew that we had take down at least 40 members of the gang only leaving around 60 known members to deal with.

The next months went by with out any real incidents both team members made a full recovery, we had a few skirmishes with the gang but nothing really worth talking about, normally with two to four members at a time but our team was battle hard and took care of them with out any problems, on the last month the new police recruits had arrived and we was shipped back to our main regiment to report for debriefing.

After a month back at the regiment base we had learnt that the police force had managed to take down the head of the gang leaving them as a non threat, however we all know that new gangs would rise and the police would still have work to do. For us it was good been back at what we called home now, we knew nothing of the dangers that would lay ahead for us.


End file.
